Over the last few years, the cannabis industry has seen exponential growth and rapid change. The industry’s explosive growth continues with no sign of slowing down. In reality, by 2025, the US market is estimated to have doubled to $41.5 billion.
As the cannabis industry continues to grow at a breakneck pace, many businesses are looking for ways to improve their operating efficiency as they scale their businesses. One brilliant idea to widen the scope of a business today is through online marketing. However, if you’re a cannabis business owner, you have to know the limitations in marketing your business.
Now is the best time to introduce your services to the cannabis market— particularly if you’re a B2B company that sells farming technology, lighting, fertilizer, and other growing and processing equipment. Just remember to make sure you do it right. There’s a gold rush going on out there, but it’s one fraught with controversy, government regulations, rules, and fines if you get caught up in it. Listed below are some of the things you have to know when putting your cannabis business online:
Reputation Management- How to Market Your Cannabis Business on Social Media
- Cannabis SEO Tips to Boost Your Website Traffic
- Discover Cannabis Affiliate Programs
- Processing Payments for Your Cannabis Business
- News About the Cannabis Industry in Africa
Reputation Management
Cannabis has been used for therapeutic, spiritual, and even recreational reasons throughout time, but the plant has received unparalleled stigma in the last century. Marijuana’s disapproval has been rooted in public opinion as a consequence of prohibition legislation. However, due to countercultures, supporters, and scholars, the plant has gained widespread popularity in recent decades.
Cannabis and its compounds are steadily restoring their popularity as a highly therapeutic and useful herb, thanks to research showing the plant’s positive effects and the advocates fighting for these results. It is followed by the legalization of medical marijuana in many parts of the country and the legalization of adult-use recreational goods.
Although there is no doubt that the public’s view of cannabis has changed, a significant portion of the population remains opposed to its legalization. Here’s where reputation management enters the picture. It’s the process of establishing and maintaining a positive brand reputation across various online and digital platforms. It employs brand marketing strategies to develop such a reputation, effectively enhancing its image while promoting its products or services.
Because of the complicated nature of cannabis awareness in many parts of the globe, it’s crucial to take some steps to manage this picture. Here are some of the strategies you can do to:
- Present Accurate Information
- Maintain a Professional Demeanor at All Times
- Build a Reputable Name
- Improve Search Engine Rankings
How to Market Your Cannabis Business on Social Media
According to research, 76% of consumers have purchased a product after seeing it on social media. Nearly half of consumers (44%) have purchased products after seeing them on a brand’s social media article. These figures show how critical social media advertising is for companies, particularly those in and around the cannabis industry.
However, since marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the main social media outlets, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, have guidelines limiting social media marketing opportunities for cannabis companies that don’t involve the herb at all.
Despite the challenges and concerns associated with cannabis companies and social media marketing, there are still strategies for cannabis. Businesses may employ to maximize platforms’ scope while minimizing the possibility of losing all they’ve worked so hard to achieve. Listed are tactics that cannabis business owners can do to promote their brand and products on social media:
- Choose the Right Platform
- Make Partnership with Other Brands
- Eye on the Right Target Market
- Understand How Hashtags Works and How to Use It Efficiently
- Build and Maintain a Professional Image
- Create Educational and Useful Content
- Understand the Power of More Engagement and Less Promotion
Cannabis SEO Tips to Boost Your Website Traffic
Establishing an online presence is critical for your cannabis company to succeed in today’s digital world. Once your website is up and running, it’s time to optimize it for search engines. It is important because it helps your site rank higher in search results, resulting in more traffic and higher conversion rates. Here are some of the best cannabis SEO rating strategies you can use to improve your rate higher:
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Before Beginning Any Marijuana SEO Tactic, Review Current Search Traffic
Starting with an overview of what you already have is a great way to determine which SEO tactics would improve your future guests’ performance. The user activity measurements in your current search traffic to your blog or website will speak volumes about your guests.
Through this, you will learn which sites are the most popular, which cannabis keywords rank higher, how many new users came to your site from organic results, and so on. These SEO statistics can be found in your Google Analytics account. To monitor data, you’ll need to incorporate Google Analytics with your platform. If you have the info, compare it to your top-performing pages and look for commonalities.
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Understand How Users Search
You must be aware of the keywords that users enter into search engines while seeking information. To verify the output of different cannabis keywords, you can use several keyword tools available online. These methods will help you figure out what types of keywords you can use in your article. Make sure you’re using important keywords at all times. For example, if your company produces cannabis seeds, use keywords that as accurately as possible describe your goods.
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Improve Social Media SEO
Most Google-high-ranking websites have a lot of social signals. In several cases, social media is crucial to the website’s ranking. One of the main advantages is that it increases the site’s visibility, leading to increased traffic.
Sharing links on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter will help you create your brand. While social media does not support your site rank directly, there is a connection between the number of social signals and your site’s SERP ranking, implying that social media has a significant effect on your site’s ranking indirectly.
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Optimize Site Speed
When it comes to cannabis SEO and website optimization strategies, mobile site speed and page load time are two intertwined variables that are often overlooked. A webpage with a bounce rate of more than 5 seconds has a high bounce rate. In other terms, users would leave your website.
Increasing the pace of your website means removing the obstacle that keeps tourists away. Google also understands how important it is for web users to have easy access to goods, services, and information. Consequently, pages that load faster are rewarded. If your site loads in three seconds and your competitor’s site takes nine seconds, Google will prioritize your site. Optimizing your website will help you outperform your rivals and, as a result, increase your ranking.
Discover Cannabis Affiliate Programs
The cannabis market is developing, and it expects to pay off handsomely in the future. With its purported health benefits, marijuana has taken the industry by storm. According to some estimates, the industry is worth more than $22 billion. Simply by advertising the product online, you can get a piece of the financial pie.
All you have to do now is figure out how to get the most traffic to market your goods. After one or more of your audience/followers purchases cannabis products, you earn a commission. It’s simple because people are interested in learning more about the product and finding a reputable cannabis business. Here are a few affiliate marketing programs to remember:
- Seedsman
- MagicalButter
- Green Goddess Supply
- Lotus Nutrients Affiliate Program
- Air Vape USA Affiliate Program
- Grow Rec Room Affiliate Program
- DaVinci Vaporizers Affiliate Program
- Common Ground
- The Bud Grower Affiliate Program
- Gorilla Grow Tent Affiliate Program
Processing Payments for Your Cannabis Business
With the widespread awareness of cannabis, a growing number of companies are opening up shops in the industry. Many seem to be enjoying the most of this natural compound, from high-profile investors to new entrepreneurs. Payment processing for cannabis is creating a stir in the online, medical, and digital payments sectors.
Banking and payment processing remain highly complicated for cannabis companies due to state and federal legislation. As a result, banking and payment processing service providers have stepped in to assist cannabis businesses. Listed are several ways for cannabis business owners to process payments:
- Cash
- Bank Transfer (CanPay and Hypur Pay)
- Cryptocurrency
- Debit Card
News About the Cannabis Industry in Africa
Lesotho became the first African nation to issue an administrative license for commercial cannabis production for medicinal and biomedical research in 2017. Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malawi, eSwatini, Zambia, Uganda, and Rwanda are among the countries that have proved popular since then. Ghana has also legalized cannabis cultivation, but only for varieties containing less than 0.3 percent THC (the plant’s psychoactive component).
Malawi and Zimbabwe, for example, are two of the world’s largest tobacco exporters. Given tobacco’s destructive environmental footprint, officials hope that cannabis will overtake smoking as the state’s leading cash crop. While most laws that support cannabis cultivation also allow its use for medical purposes, Uganda and Rwanda are reportedly cultivating the plant solely for export.
Significant quantities of cannabis are still cultivated and exported in other countries where cannabis cultivation is still illegal, such as Tanzania and Kenya. Because of the monetary incentives to legalize the already existing cannabis trade, these countries’ laws could also alter.
Regarding the cannabis market’s potential, Africa, with its favorable environment and accessibility to Europe, appears well-positioned to serve the growing European medical cannabis industry. Warm weather, rich soil, and plenty of sunlight in the region will help it compete with existing cannabis powerhouses.
Compared to Canada and the Netherlands, where the cold climate necessitates the cultivation of cannabis in wealthy greenhouses, cannabis in Africa can be cultivated in open fields. Despite the thriving cannabis production industry in their home countries, many American and Canadian companies have already established or expressed efforts to develop farms and processing plants on the continent.